Wow, time does fly.  I've been camping in New Mexico.  What an amazing beautiful area.  I actually brought a suitcase filled with craft projects.  I even decoupaged a walking stick in camp.  That's a true craft addict for you!  Believe it or not, I actually did craft in camp.  It was truly an amazing and fun experience!  I can craft anywhere!

Today I wanted to share my artist apron with you.  I bought a canvas apron at Michaels.  I then decided to spray it with Dylusions spray ink.  I put down a doily stencil, alphabet lettering stencils, a banner stencil, and a honeycomb stencil.  Then I sprayed the inks on top of it.  I used a lot of bright colors, and tried to let them dry between each color.  I then stenciled a couple of birds on top of that.

Then I cut out some butterflies out of fabric, and glued them down with fabric glue.  This particular apron didn't have any pockets, and when I'm working I really need pockets to help control my crafting messes.  I had gotten some cute fabric a long time ago, at Hancock's, and thought it would be adorable on the apron.  I was right.  I then sewed on the fabric, making pockets for even more organization.  As you can see below, it turned out so cute that I don't want to wear it.  I don't think the inks I used are washing machine proof, but that didn't matter to me, because I doubt if I will ever wash it.  I used Tim Holt's tattered angel die to create a flower on the top of the apron.  I put a button in the middle of the flower.  It's a messy flower, but that is the charm of it.  I hope you all enjoy this cute and easy project.  Happy crafting!

Exciting news!!!  I've been published!  I can't believe it!  It's the first time I've submitted my stuff into any magazines, and they actually published two of my steampunk creations!  This is the magazine (Volume 3):

I'm on page 79, and page 89.  These are the two projects I have in there:  

I found the gear at Target, and had no idea what I was gonna do with it.  So glad I decided to make it a steampunk theme.  I'm in love with steampunk, and someday hope to sew my own steampunk clothes!  The paper's are from Graphic 45.  I love their stuff!  The flying man is a Lost Coast stamp.   My first project with the flying man actually had a full page spread!  So amazing!!!!!  

These are pictures that I took of my projects.  The pictures in the magazine are just amazing!  You can't tell from the pictures, but the notebook project is actually a composition book that I used a rusting technique on.  I love the feel of it.  

I can't tell you how excited, thrilled and shocked I am.  Now I want to send in some of my other projects to different magazines!  I'm just on cloud nine, and don't want to come down.  

Hello everyone!  I hope all is well with you guys.  I'd like to share a neat project that I did involving a wine crate that I found at the thrift store for only $3.00!  I decided to leave the outside the way it was since it was such a beautiful color of wood.  This is a side view.

I decided to use Tim Holtz's paper tape to cover the side walls and edges.  This covered great, and was really easy to apply.  Even if I messed up, it was easy to peel off and do over.  Then I used a variety of paper tape as a background in each cubby.  I'm not sure of the manufacture of the tapes, I know some of them were made by Recollections.

Here are some close ups of the cubbies.  I just love all the cute things I had laying around.  I couldn't tell you where I found all of the items, some are Avon, some are from the dollar store.  The mannequin image, the sewing machine, and the pin cushion is by Hot off the Press.  Some of the other items are from the miniature section of my local craft store.  Whatever I could find, I threw them it in.  This is a close up of the top half:

This is a close up of the bottom half:

I hope you all enjoyed this project, I know I had a blast making it.  Give the washi (paper) tape a try.  It's amazing stuff, and you'll love it.  I just noticed how cute this looked along side my blog design.  It just kinda blends in.  Happy crafting!!!

Hi everyone!  Hope all is well for you guys.  I've been busy this week working on doodling, and making St Patrick's Day cards for the grandkids.  I thought I'd share the cards with you.  I tried to use images that reminded me of each grand child.  For the youngest, I tried to only use things that he couldn't pull off easily. Here is the one I made for the ten month old.  I used extra glue on the flowers to make sure he can't pull them off.  Sorry for the shine on the picture.  I'm still learning the best way to edit them, and it's not always easy when your self taught!

The next card to share with you all is for my beautiful granddaughter.  This card is something she'll love because the little girl looks like her.  I love the white scrolls and pink flowers made by EK Success.  They remind me of cake decorations.

The next card is for the oldest grandson.  He loves animals, and this just reminded me so much of him.  I used the same scrolls as I did on the other card, just turned them differently.  I colored all the cards in with colored pencils, and could have worked a lot longer on blending them in, but was in a hurry to get them out. They don't care anyways.  Their just so excited to get their cards.  

I hope you enjoy the cards, I know the grandkids will be thrilled to get them.  Have a great weekend, and happy crafting!

OMG!  Another two weeks have flown by.  I really was trying to post more on my blog, but I seem to be failing.  Sorry guys, I'll keep working on that.  I wasn't sure what to share today, but I thought you all might like to see something a little different that I made. 

Today I'm excited to show you all a beautiful wreath that I made with some paper flower embellishments made by K & Co.  They come in a paper pad and there are beautiful flowers, leaves, and playful trendils that are flat.  I like to fold them, and crimp them to give them some dimension.  I bend the flowers many different ways, and layer them with an assortment of styles and colors.  The more crazy the combinations seem to be the more great the flowers turn out.

First, I started out with a piece of pipe insulation from Home Depot.  This is in the plumbing section.  You use it to wrap your pipes to prevent them from freezing.  They look like this:

 

 

 

 

 

Then I took some plastic tape and joined the two ends together to make a wreath.  It looked like this:

 

 

 

 

I decided to wrap some muslin around the wreath just because I didn't want to see the black foam through the flowers.  I just ripped the muslin in strips, then added a little glue here and there.  Next came the flowers.  I love the pastel colors they come in.  This paper pad of flowers from K & Co. are just fantastic!  I found the flower pad on clearance at Target.  I barely made a dent in the package, so I have a ton left for many more projects.  These would be great on cards because you can still send them in the mail, because although their dimensional, they can still lay flat for easy mailing.  I attached some brads from Recollections to add a little bling.  Then I used a hot glue gun to attach the flowers.  Enough of the suspense, here is the finished wreath:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, that's about it for now.  I hope you all enjoy this beautiful wreath as much as I enjoyed making it.  Have a great day, and happy crafting!

 



 

 



My goodness it's really been almost two weeks since my last post.  Time flies when your having fun!  Wish I could say I've done something exciting to report, but no such news.  I've just been watching craft videos and learning how to do a different type of collaging that I haven't done before.  I'm taking a class with Cathy Bluteau that's called 21 Secrets of Doodling.  I'm having a great time doing the techniques, and soon I'll post a picture of the collage that I've done.  You can find her classes at Cathyb.typepad.com.

Well today I'd like to share a really sweet collage of a couple of ladies that are stamps from my favorite artist Julie Nutting.  The stamps are made by Prima. She has some new stamps that I'm hoping will arrive soon, but these stamps are from the first line she did last year. If you've looked through some of my old posts, you'll find that I've used some of her stamps on other projects already.  I've fallen in love with them, as I'm hopelessly obsessed with paper dolls.  Maybe it's because I was such a tomboy when I was younger.

This collage was made on an 11x14 canvas.  I used flexible modeling paste to put the honeycomb designs on.  Then I also used a stencil by Stencil 1 to apply the flexible modeling past to the tree.  I just mixed in a little brown paint into the modeling paste.  Then I sprayed the canvas with different shades of spray mists.

After I got the colors where I liked them, then it was all about the embellishments.  I used a wooden fence that I found in the wood section in Michaels, painted it white, and dry brushed some brown acrylic paint to make it look a little older.

In this side picture you can see that I attached foam dots to the fence to make it pop off the collage. 

 I then applied some cute dimensional butterflies by Recollections.  Next I  applied the wooden pieces.  On top of the bird house I used a ball chain from Tim Holtz's collection.  I just layed down a line of thick tacky glue and set the chain on top.  The mushrooms were wood pieces that were the same color as all the other wood embellishment, but I wanted them to look more real.  I used acrylic paint to change their color.  Don't be afraid to alter items, it's only paint.  You can always keep trying different paint colors to see which ones you like the best. As you can tell these wood pieces gives it a lot of dimension.  

I then rubber stamped the two girls onto white cardstock, and then paper pieced the patterned paper by My Minds Eye for their clothes.  Then I colored in their skin tone with Copic markers.  I used a watercolor wash to create color on their cheeks.

 I think this came out so cute.  I'm so in love with these stamps, that I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more of them in my other projects.  I'll be checking the mailbox daily to see if my other stamps came in yet.  I hope you all enjoy my collage, and happy crafting!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!  I hope your all taking time to let the special people in your lives know how much they mean to you.  I thought today I'd share a couple of Valentine's Day cards I made for the Grandkids, and an extra one just for that special someone in your life.

This card is one I made for my beautiful granddaughter.  She's 4 years old, and loves anything Disney.  I fell in love with the cute ribbon at the top.  I'm sorry the picture is so dark, that's what happens when you wait until the morning your mailing the card to photograph it.  I know she will love it, and I loved how fast it was to make.

Next is the card I made for my 6 year old Grandson.  He's always moving a mile a minute, so the bike and skateboard were perfect for him.  I like that I used something different, not just Valentine's images.  Since he's 6, I didn't want to put a lot of stuff on his card, so I kept it simple.

The next card I'd like to share is for my 9 month old Grandson.  I didn't want to put on anything small, so these felt owls were perfect.  I used extra glue to seal the felt shapes on better.  I have no doubt that he'll try and taste it, and I didn't want anything to be able to be pulled off the card.  

You'll notice the simplicity of these cards, the little ones just aren't interested in all that stuff, so I try and keep the embellishments to a minimum.  

Last but not least, here's my card for a significant loved one.  I didn't notice till just now that my ribbon is crooked.  Oh well, they'll never know.  Sometimes you just have to let go and embrace the imperfections.  I used Martha Stewart's punch all over the page punch.  It really looks beautiful in person.  The embellishments are from K & Co.  The heart doily is from the dollar store.  This card took me longer to make then the others, but I just love all the different layers. Have a great Valentine's Day and I hope you all get to be spoiled by someone you love today, and happy crafting!

Well so far it's been a successful event of the Grow Your Own Blog party.  I've gotten many new followers, and I hope to get some more.  It's amazing to realize how many craft addicts there are out there.  Thanks everyone for your nice comments.

I'd like to share a couple of cards that I made because of my love of mannequins, and sewing related things.  I just love anything to do with corsets, or mannequins.  I made these cards with plain kraft cardstock, and with Tim Holtz's sewing die cut.  I cut out two images of the same mannequin, and then just cut them in half to change up the die cut.  I also took acrylic paint and brushed it onto the card stock in a dry brush mode.  For those of you who don't know how to do that, all you do is dip your brush into paint, then wipe most of the paint off on a paper towel.  Then apply it randomely to the card stock.  I punched out the leaves, and applied some paper flowers in the corner of one of the cards.  Then I rubber stamped the saying onto a round circle.  I used a plain white die cut to make the mannequin look three dimensional.  I applied foam dots to the back of the die cut to make it pop out.  I then applied a doily and added my saying with foam pop dots..

On the other card, it's done pretty much the same, I just added some chalk ink around the edges of the die cut.  I applied a white doily and topped it with two round circles.  Next I cut out the spools from the same die cut, and wrapped them with floss.  The scrolls were cut with my Cricut I believe.  I decided to add a stick pin in the back of the spools.

These designs are very simple and easy to recreate.  I used premade flowers this time, but a lot of times I'll make my own.  One of these days I'll teach you all how to make some paper flowers.  I love to make roses. I hope you all enjoyed these cards as much as I enjoyed making them.  Happy crafting!

"Grow Your  Blog"

Today I wanted to share with you all a blog party that I'll be involved in called "Grow Your Own Blog Party for 2014".  Since I'm a new blogger, this should be a great opportunity to get my blog out there for more people to enjoy.  Hello, my name is Kathy, and I'm a craft addict.  There, I've said it.  The first step is, admitting that you have a problem.  I'm sure there are plenty of you out there who know what I'm talking about.  That's why I decided to start a blog.  I'd love to have more followers, so please feel free to join.  I can also be reached at my email address at DKLuckyM13@aol.com.  I also have a pinterest page at pinterestdkluckym13/.

I love so many different types of crafts, such as mixed media, paper dolls, steampunk, card making, crocheting, collage, sewing, any type of paper crafting, altered art, embroidery, jewelry making, polymer clay, quilling, drawing, and art journaling, just to name a few.  See what I mean about that addiction thing.  I'm so excited to be meeting some new friends, as I hope we'll become.  Please take the time to visit more of the great blogs out there, I know I'll be visiting quite a few.  I was hoping to put up their badge on the side of my blog, but I'm still new to blogging, and can't quite figure out how to add it.  The web address of the "Grow Your Blog" is at vicki-2bagsfull.blogspot.com.  I hope you all sign up to be my followers, if I can get 100 new followers, I'll have a free giveaway.  Everyone loves free stuff!  Thanks guys and happy crafting!!!

Hello crafty friends!!!  I hope your all having a fantastic day.  Today I wanted to share a collage that I created for a dear friends daughter.  She's 16, and I felt that she might need some positive affirmations during those tough teen years.  I created this collage by doing a base coat of mod podge and old pattern tissue.

The next thing I did was to add some Faber Castell gelato's color, by rubbing the color all around the piece.  Then I took my fingers and just smeared them all together.  I like it to look very messy.

I used all different colors randomly and didn't try to make any sense of it.  I then rubberstamped all over the piece with Stazon ink.  Then I like to take bubble wrap and apply paint with a brush to the bubble wrap, and then apply the bubble wrap to the canvas.  I like there to be tons of layers on a piece.

My next step is to use Flexible modeling paste applied to a brass stencil that I taped down on the corners to add some dimensional flowers.  Once that dries I like to apply chalk ink to the top of the stencil to color it.  Sometimes I add stickles glitter on top of that.

I then added some cute doiley stencil's by Martha Stewart to the other corners with white craft paint.  I also took the lid of the bottle of paint applied paint to it and applied that to the canvas as well.

I next like to apply rub ons all over the canvas.  For Sarah's art piece I added all inspirational quotes to inspire her to believe in herself.  After all that base stuff is done with it's time for the embellishments. I made the flowers with various craft punches.  The angel is from Christy Tomlinson's She Art Girls class that she has on her website.  I'm so inspired by all of her fantastic knowledge, and am so grateful that she is willing to share that wisdom with her fans.  I hope you all enjoy Sarah's art piece, I know I loved creating her.  Have a great day, and happy crafting!

 

Oh my gosh, has it been over a month since I last blogged?   Time seems to speed by during the holidays.  I hope you all had a great holiday!  I know I did.  I'm one of those crazy woman who likes to make my own handmade Christmas cards.  I made a total of 40 cards, and it took me a solid week to complete them all.  I thought I'd share a card I did last year, that although it looks simple, there was a lot of work involved, along with a lot of hair pulling!

This snow globe has a back piece covering the front part of the card that prevents you from seeing through to the inside of the card. I hand punched a lot of the pieces, and the snowman was hand cut out of thick glitter paper.  As I said, looks simple, but really was a lot of hard work.  I love the embossing of the snow and the base of the globe.  If you all decide to try and reproduce a card like this, then hopefully you won't struggle as much as I did.  Although one card is a lot easier than 40!

Next I'd like to share a card that I made for my Grandson.  He's a huge Spiderman fan and I decided to try my hand at a special card for him.  I cut the web out of my Cricut, and hand cut the eyes out.  The letters are punched out of card stock, using a Martha Stewart punch.  This was such a simple card to create, and he just loved it.  I hope you all have a fantastic New Year, and I wish you all happiness, love and creativity!  Happy crafting!!!!!

Wow, I didn't realize how long it's been since my last posting.  Sorry guys.  I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, and a fun Black Friday.  I didn't do any shopping on Thanksgiving, I just feel that it should be a day devoted to family, and not to shopping.  I plan to continue to boycott shopping on Thanksgiving for years to come.  I really hope they don't do it again next year, but the way the power of the almighty dollar is, that is doubtful.  Well, I'll get off my soap box and get to sharing the crafty ideas. 

Today I decided to share a really cute gifting idea.  I saw this on the cover of a crafting magazine called Simply Handmade, done in very different shades, but I just loved the idea.  You can change the paper to be Christmas, or choose a more masculine look for the guys.  You can tuck in some great gifts into the bottom. 

I took a round paper mache box and covered it with a cute cheerful patterned paper.  I can't find the pack of paper I pulled it out of, but you can use anything to cover the box with.  I had to piece the paper around the box because it wouldn't fit all the way around, and that is why I added the stripped paper on it too. I cut the white border out of cardstock paper with a Sizzix border die.  I added Recollections bling on top of the border swirls.  I then glued paper on the top of the box, and added some fabric flowers that I got at a Rubberstamping show.  These are the types of flowers that you find that are sewn onto tulle, and are grouped together and sold by the yard.  I just cut them apart.  I made my own banner out of the same stripped paper, rubberstamped the celebration stamp on top of the banner and then applied it to a colored toothpick.   That's all there was to this cute gift box.  I hope this fills your head with all types of creative ideas.   Happy crafting!

 

A wet and soggy hello.  It's actually raining cats and dogs in sunny Arizona.  I'd like to share a recycling project that I made with a piece of corrugated cardboard.  I added colorbox chalk ink to the cardboard in black and red.  Then I added a piece of scrap paper that I had laying around and tore the edges to make it look shabby.  I then added some great pictures of my beautiful mom taken when she was a little girl, and when she turned sweet 16.  Underneath the picture of her as a little girl is a picture of her in her bathing suit.  I made it look like she had legs coming out of her head.  I have no idea why I did this, but I just liked the quirky look of it. 

I then added a clock face from Tim Holt's line, and antiqued it with black and brown ink.  Then I added some cute corner ladybugs on her picture.  I poked some holes in the cardboard to add a funky ribbon ball trim to hang it by.  I added a cute black butterfly in the corner that I found at a local rubber stamp show. Then I added an epoxy sign, and I decided to add a pop of color in the corner with some cute paper flowers. 

Since I lost my mom last year I've been trying to use some of the old family pictures a lot more in my crafting.  I guess it's my way of keeping her close to me.  This was another one of those recycling crafts that don't cost much, but looks really great.  I hope you all enjoy it, and happy crafting!

Good day everyone!  Today is a great day to share some more creative ideas.  I made this cute decoration to hang above my antique singer sewing machine.  I used brown paper bags to paint an image of an antique sewing machine (You can find cute images online). I used two pieces of brown paper bag and glued them together, but I left a small half inch opening to push fiberfill stuffing into it.  Don't use very much, you just want it to have a little dimension.  I then glued it closed.  Next I painted  the sewing machine onto the paper bag with acrylic paints.  I then used paint pens to write on it.  Then I cut all around the image with decorative scissors.  I punched a couple holes in it to thread some wire through.  Before I attached the other side I threaded on some cute wooden spools that I wrapped with embroidery thread.  Then I attached the other side of the wire.  I then tied on a cute bow with some sewing themed fabric.  This is a very inexpensive craft to make, and would be great for those craft bazaars.  You can use different images like snowmen, angels, or even Santa Claus.  I hope this gets those creative juices flowing!  Have fun, and happy crafting!

Happy Thursday everyone!  Hope your all having a fantastic day.  Today I'd like to share a collage I've done on a small 5x7" canvas board.  I first did a base coat of acrylic paints in tan, beige, ivory, white and a little light pink, dabbed on with a sea sponge.  Then I took a piece of music paper and sponged over it with rose colored chalk ink.  On top of that is a piece of mulberry paper.  I then cut out the images of the two beauties out of scrapbooking paper, and applied on top of the mulberry paper. 

I rubber stamped the sayings (which I believe is Tim Holtz's stamps) onto different colored cardstock, then put foam tape underneath and applied it onto another piece of cardstock.  I took stickles glitter and applied it to the edge of the sayings.  The felt cloud and plane are by Pebbles (I believe).

The beautiful roses are by Recollections, and I applied stickles glitter to the tops of these.  Don't you love the sparkle?  The cute little butterflies are by Recollections.  I used a kite sticker by Martha Stewart, and then applied Rangers gloss accents on top of the kite.  Let dry well and apply to the collage.  I added extra bling around the neckline, and arm, along with a cute heart sticker.   I really think this came out so cute, and if you think so, let me know.